Sample Essay - Partition of Ireland 2022 PDF

Subject History TEACHER Stephen Tonge COURSE Partition and Sovereignty ACADEMIC LEVEL Higher ACADEMIC YEAR 6th Year TOPIC Partition of Ireland: Sample Essay analysed STUDENT NAME: CONTENTS 1. Essay Plan NAME. SUBJECT. CYCLE. YEAR. Sample Essay – LC 2022 During the period 19...

Subject History TEACHER Stephen Tonge COURSE Partition and Sovereignty ACADEMIC LEVEL Higher ACADEMIC YEAR 6th Year TOPIC Partition of Ireland: Sample Essay analysed STUDENT NAME: CONTENTS 1. Essay Plan NAME. SUBJECT. CYCLE. YEAR. Sample Essay – LC 2022 During the period 1912-1920, what factors contributed to the partition of Ireland? Note: key writing style is to use the words factor, contribution and partition as frequently as possible throughout the essay With each paragraph, the first sentence links back to the essay question and the last shows why the detail given is significant in the question's context. Key events: Key Personalities Home Rule Crisis and its impact British Attitude of British parties Herbert Asquith PM until 1916 Impact of World War I David Lloyd George PM until 1922 Impact of growth of republicanism after 1916 Nationalists Failed Home Rule negotiations John Redmond leader of the Home Rule Party until 1918 Election of 1918 – impact Ireland and Britain Unionists Government of Ireland Act Edward Carson James Craig Key Terms Unionist: believed that Ireland should remain part of the UK – majority in Northeast of the country. Loyalist is a term that is used as well. Nationalist: believed Ireland should have self-government. Divided into two: Home Ruler (constitutional nationalist) believed this should be achieved peacefully. Republican argued for complete separation from Britain and were prepared to use violence to achieve this. Partition: the division of Ireland into two political units. Government of Ireland Act – established two Home Rule parliaments for Ireland. 4 Stephen Tonge History. Leaving Cert. 6th Year. Essay: Introduction In 1920 two separate parliaments were created for the island of Ireland. For the first time in modern history Ireland had been divided into two political units – this became known as partition. There were several factors that contributed to the partition of Ireland in 1920. These included the depth of opposition to the Third Home Rule Bill among Ulster Unionists, the respective positions of the main British parties, the impact of World War I, the growth of Sinn Fein and the political situation in Britain and Ireland after World War I. Link: The crucial factor that contributed to the partition of Ireland was the depth of Unionist opposition shown during the Home Rule Crisis. In April 1912 when the Third Home Rule Bill was introduced Ulster Unionists mobilized to oppose the measure. Mass rallies were held in both Ireland and Britain. In September, the Solemn League and Covenant was signed which pledged to use all means to defeat Home Rule. The Unionist leader Edward Carson was politically very influential in Britain and his deputy James Craig was a superb organizer. Significance: the Unionist campaign won a lot of popular support in the UK Link: The militarization of Unionist opposition was also a contributing factor. A paramilitary force, the Ulster Volunteer Force was formed to resist Home Rule by force if necessary. This force reached 100,000 men and was armed in April 1914 when guns were smuggled into Larne and other ports in Ulster. The position of the British was weakened when it became clear after the “Curragh Mutiny” that they could not rely on their own army to act if Ulster resisted a Home Rule parliament. Significance: The depth of Unionist opposition meant that the British government decided that it would not force the Unionists into a Home Rule parliament (All-Ireland settlement) against their will. Link: Another factor that contributed to the partition of Ireland was the attitude of the two main British political parties to Home Rule. The Conservatives full name was the Conservative and Unionist Party – its support for Irish Unionists was unambiguous and this unified all sections of the party. The Liberals were committed to Home Rule for Ireland, but their support was more lukewarm, and they came to believe that compromise was required on Ulster. As early as 1912 two leading Liberals, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill had suggested excluding Ulster to the cabinet. Significance: The Liberals were more prepared to compromise on Home Rule than the Conservatives on their support for Ulster Unionists. Link: A factor that contributed to the partition of Ireland was the impact of World War I on politics in both Britain and Ireland. Like his nationalist counterpart John Redmond with the Irish Volunteers, Edward Carson had called on the Ulster Volunteers to join the British army. British public opinion was impressed by the performance of the Ulster Division and its terrible causalities that it suffered at the Battle of the Somme (2000 dead). Significance: The increased support for special treatment of Ulster. Link: The absence of Nationalist participation in the national unity government contributed to partition. In May 1915, Carson became Attorney General in the government of national unity formed to prosecute the war. Redmond did not join the government, and this was consistent with party principles but his absence from the centre of power was to harm Nationalist interests. Political developments in Britain further weakened Nationalism. In 1916 the Liberals had split, and the government was now dominated by Conservatives with a Liberal, David Lloyd George, as Prime Minister. Significance: These developments strengthened the Unionist position at the heart of British politics. 5 Stephen Tonge History. Leaving Cert. 6th Year. Link: The 1916 Rising and the subsequent rise of Sinn Fein contributed to the partition of Ireland. To the British and the Unionists, the Rising was a stab in the back to Britain in her hour of need. The subsequent shift in nationalist opinion to the more radical nationalists of Sinn Fein strengthened the Unionist position. While protecting Unionists in Ulster against the moderate Home Rulers split political opinion in Britain, there was more consensus about protecting them against Sinn Fein. Significance: This made partition more likely. Link: A further factor that contributed to the partition of Ireland were the negotiations held between Carson and Redmond in the aftermath of the Easter Rising. In the aftermath of the 1916 Rising the issues were reopened with a proposal for the immediate implementation of Home Rule. Asquith got his most able minister David Lloyd George to negotiate separately with Redmond and Carson. Redmond agreed to the temporary exclusion of Ulster from a Home Rule parliament on the understanding that this exclusion would be temporary. Carson was told that this exclusion would be permanent, and he received a written guarantee. When this duplicity emerged, the talks broke down. Significance: Crucially the Unionists now had a guarantee that the exclusion would be permanent and had no reason to compromise in future negotiations such as the Irish Convention of 1917-8. Link: A factor that contributed to the partition of Ireland was the political situation in Britain and Ireland after World War I. After the 1918 election the abstention of nearly all the Irish Nationalist MPs (Sinn Fein) from parliament meant that Nationalists had few defenders at Westminster while Unionist representation had increased to 26. The PM Lloyd George was the leader of a Conservative dominated coalition, and he had to consider the Unionist sentiment of that party. Significance: Politically the Ulster Unionists were in a very strong position to ensure Ulster would be excluded from any measure of independence for Ireland. Link: The declaration of the 1st Dáil by Sinn Fein and the resultant violence of the War of Independence further weakened the Nationalist position. In 1919 Lloyd George set up a committee to investigate into the Irish Question. Unionist influence was very strong as its chairperson was the former Unionist leader Walter Long. Its recommendations were dramatic. Ireland would be permanently partitioned, and two home Rule parliaments would be established: one in Dublin and one in Belfast – “Home Rule all around.” Significance: The Government of Ireland Act which resulted from the work of this committee was passed in December 1920. This created two parliaments for Ireland. Partition was now a reality. Conclusion: Unionists had never sought their own parliament but once it came, they recognised the advantages. They believed that it protected them not just against Nationalists (North and South) but against British politicians who might betray them in the future. Home Rule for Southern Ireland never got off the ground as the grant of limited independence was unacceptable to Sinn Fein. The subsequent Treaty negotiations of 1921 failed to overturn the Government of Ireland Act, and the country was to remain permanently divided to this day. 6 Stephen Tonge History. Leaving Cert. 6th Year.  2 Stephen Tonge History. Leaving Cert. 6th Year.